Hepatitis A outbreak in Agarpara

SUZANNE DALEY

Hepatitis A is stalking residents of Agarpara under the Panihati municipality.

| TNN | Jul 13, 2014, 09.24 PM IST

KOLKATA: Hepatitis A is stalking residents of Agarpara under the Panihati municipality. Outbreak of the water borne disease has reportedly claimed three lives in the past one month. Contaminated drinking water is suspected to be the cause. And with the monsoon in its full swing, the problem could only get worst if immediate preventive measures are taken up.

The worst hit wards are numbers 8, 9 and 10. Locals alleged that water pipeline carrying water to their homes have several leakage points. Locals claim that the municipality has not done much to repair the leakages of replace the pipeline despite several complaints.

"The problem will go out of hand if the civic body does not start working immediately towards preventive measures. To start with they can start providing safe drinking water till the water pipe line is replaced or repaired," said Dr Swapan Biswas, Agarpara Vidyasagar Welfare Society.

Medical Service Centre (MSC), a forum of medical practitioners who conducted to door to door survey and also held medical camps in the locality a couple of days back found 11% of the sample size under the attack of Hepatitis A and few with Hepatitis E. The sample size of the survey in the three wards was 3335 persons out of which 345 were found positive to the virus.

"Out of the 345 affected, a whooping 268 were found using drinking water supplied by the municipality. This number is quite alarming," said Dr Sajal Biswas joint secretary MSC, West Bengal Committee.

The three who died reportedly due to the ongoing infection include Sudipta Dam, a class nine student from Mahajati Mor.

Local Trinamool Congress MLA Nirmal Ghosh admitted the pipe line problem. He said that those were due to ongoing project to replace the water pipe line.

"The pipeline problem came to our notice about two months ago. I myself long with health and municipality officials had visited the affected areas then and took up all preventive measures. If the problem is recurring I will visit the areas to asses the situation," said Ghosh.

Hepatitis A is an acute infection of the liver caused by the Hepatitis A virus. The symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea, yellow skin, fever, jaundice and abdominal pain. It is generally spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with infected feces.

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